Portal:Water/Key State News


 * New York: On June 30, 2011, it was announced that Democratic Governor Anthony Cuomo will call for a lifting of the moratorium on fracking within state borders, first reported by the New York Times: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/01/nyregion/cuomo-will-seek-to-lift-drilling-ban.html?_r=1&hp and soon thereafter reported by CMD's Steve Horn here: http://prwatch.org/news/2011/06/10869/new-york-governor-andrew-cuomo-opens-fracking-floodgates.


 * North Carolina: Shale Gas heading to North Carolina? Looks like it.


 * United Kingdom: "Earthquakes in UK suspend hydraulic fracturing": "Europe is getting a taste of fracking earthquakes. Of course industry denies any connection just like they do when water is contaminated but here's what we know: Where drilling and fracking happens, water is contaminated. Where drilling and fracking happens, earthquakes follow."


 * Texas: MarketWatch on June 3, 2011: "Like many international oil and gas companies, Norway's Statoil has poured billions into joint ventures with some of the North American independents that in the last decade figured out how to profitably unlock the oil and gas trapped in shale, bankrolling their drilling while hoping to learn some of their techniques. But peering over its partners' shoulders is not enough: Statoil plans to run its own U.S. shale operation in South Texas's Eagle Ford Shale by early 2013, said the company's executive vice president for North America, Bill Maloney."


 * Michigan: Legislative Panel To Promote Natural Gas Drilling In Michigan on June 2, 2011: "Natural gas is Michigan's most abundant energy source. Most of it comes from shallow gas wells in a formation called the Antrim Shale that's been drilled in thousands of places across northern Michigan. But environmentalists are worried about new, deeper wells that require large amounts of water and use chemicals that are kept secret. They want a moratorium on these wells and are worried this new subcommittee will head in the opposite direction. A group called Progress Michigan sent out a press release already that criticizes the chair of the panel, Representative Aric Nesbitt, and lists campaign contributions he received from the energy industry."


 * Colorado: Oil & Gas drilling led to hundreds of spills in Garfield County - new study shows: "Wildlife and wildlife habitat in Colorado prized by generations of hunters and anglers has been tainted by oil and gas wastewater spills, according to a new analysis by Bull Moose Sportsmen’s Alliance, a national sportsmen group. Oil and gas companies operating in Garfield, Rio Blanco and Mesa counties in northwest Colorado have reported nearly 1,000 spills, that released about 5.6 million gallons of wastewater, oil, and other fluids and chemicals from 2001 to 2010, an analysis of state oil and gas spill data reveals. Less than half of the spilled fluids during that 10-year period were ever recovered. The analysis also reveals that groundwater and surface water have been tainted in at least 77 separate spills in the three counties."